The United States doesn't let anyone see its gold reserves. Even if the Treasury has the number of billions it claims, they are not tradable, warns Singapore's BullionStar precious metals expert Ronan Manly.

The U.S. government claims to hold 8133.5 tonnes of physical gold in its official reserves. Fifty-eight percent is reportedly held in Fort Knox, Kentucky, 20 percent at West Point in New York state, 16 percent is said to be at the U.S. Mint in Denver, and 5 percent is held at the New York Fed.

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"The entire story around the U.S. gold reserves is opaque and secretive. There has never been a full independent audit of the U.S. gold reserves, and the custodians of the gold, the U.S. Mint and the Federal Reserve of New York, will not let anybody into the vaults to view the gold or to count it," Manly told RT.

However, despite the numerous accusations against the U.S. Treasury that it has much less gold than it claims, there is another reason, according to the expert -- U.S. gold is of bad quality.

"Even the details that have been provided on the supposed U.S. gold holdings show that a majority of the gold bars are low purity and in weights that don't conform to the industry standard 'good delivery' gold bar specifications," Manly says.

"So even if the United States has the amount of gold it claims to have, most of this gold would not be acceptable for trading on the international market, and could be used only in swap transactions with other central banks that wished to swap 'good delivery' gold bars for low-purity and unusual-weight U.S.-held gold bars," he added.

If the claims about lower-than-claimed U.S. gold reserves are true, it would reshuffle the entire global economy, Manly predicts. Though it wouldn't hit the U.S. dollar directly or result in an immediate shift away from using the U.S. dollar for international trade, the consequences will be sizable.

"Firstly, proof of lower U.S. gold reserves than claimed would add pressure for a full independent audit of all U.S. gold reserves. It would also put the spotlight on the gold reserves of other major trading blocs such as the eurozone and China and Russia, and open up a debate as to what is the role of gold in the international monetary system, which is something the U.S. government constantly tries to avoid," the expert says.

"It would also then refocus attention on international holders of U.S. dollars pre-August 1971 when Nixon closed the gold window, because those outstanding dollars held at the time by foreign central banks are still technically convertible into gold at the official gold price of the time," he added.

Moreover, if the U.S. Treasury gold holdings are falsified, it would put additional pressure on other central banks that have gold in the United States.

A proper check of the U.S. gold reserves should include weighing all gold bars, checking assays, and publishing a full weight list in the public domain, Manly says. adding that the audit would have to be conducted by an entirely independent auditor. It will never be allowed by Washington, Manly says.
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